Is it worth spending $50,000 to take general education classes at a four-year university? Not surprisingly, community college admissions experts and private university spokespeople disagree on whether or not it’s better to attend a two-year school before transferring instead of going straight to a four-year institute.
Some, like Roxbury Community College admissions officer Michael Crowley said that starting off at a community college is similar to a tryout that will ultimately benefit students.
“Based off my job dealing with the application process, our credits are completely transferrable,” Crowley said. “If you talk to the school you are planning on attending after community college, then you can find out what classes you have to take such as basic English requirements. It is a viable option to transfer because you can take them here for cheaper while also showing colleges you can handle the experience.”
However, Boston University spokesman Colin Riley said that it is difficult to transfer into BU and numerous other large universities because many only accept a small number of transfer students.
“BU has a certain rigor and standard of the first two-years that are certainly different regarding competing and learning amongst different cohorts,” Riley said. “Students’ abilities to matriculate to a selective four-year school differ and the case depends on each individual application. These are all important factors in achievement and success at a four-year school.”
Middlesex Community College has a transfer program with Massachusetts state schools and the University of Massachusetts to guarantee admission into a four-year school, said Marilynn Gallagan, an admissions officer at Middlesex.
From the perspective of a community college, it is less expensive to get certain general education requirements done and have a guaranteed transfer, Gallagan said.
“One way to transfer is by fulfilling a 34-credit block of courses before you graduate, and then you are only left with no more than six credits,” she said. “If you get a 2.5 GPA, you are guaranteed admission, as well as a discount on the in-state tuition rate if you get a 3.0.”
In some cases, however, credits taken at a community college do not transfer over to a four-year school, said Emerson College Student Admissions Representative Maria Carreon.
“Since we do not have to take all the requirements as a freshman, I was able to start immediately as a freshman taking two classes about my major,” Carreon said. “Many of the classes you can take at community college do not transfer over correctly to a liberal arts school, so going to Emerson as a freshman is more beneficial.”
A Social Science Research Council study released earlier this year, which surveyed 2,300 students from schools nationwide from 2005-2009, suggested that about 45 percent of college students demonstrated no significant improvement in complex thinking, writing and reasoning skills within the first two-years of college. About 36 percent of students showed no improvement after all four-years of college.
Many BU students said they agreed with the study.
Transferring can be beneficial, but mostly on an economical basis, said Austin Corbett, a freshman in the College of Communication.
“I think it is good to go to a four-year college if you have the money or financial aid rather than splitting your experience,” Corbett said. “In your first two years, you get to learn the community and area and find out whether things are difficult or easy for you.
College of Engineering junior Jason Pui said he attended Seattle Central Community College to save money before he transferred to BU as a biomedical engineer.
“In Seattle, it was cheaper to fulfill my requirements and I got to learn in classes that were 25 students at most and receive better attention,” Pui said. “I learned better with fewer distractions and still had resources at the school that allowed you to achieve. While I was there, I even got to go on a volunteer abroad and it helped prepare me for upper level classes.”
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